Soccer Insider: May 23, 2010 - May 29, 2010

Greetings from a warm and sunny RFK stadium where tonight's crowd is slowly beginning to trickle into the concourse. This is Matt Brooks making a guest appearance tonight with Goff on his way home from a much-needed 2-1 U.S. MNT victory over Turkey this afternoon at the Linc in Philly....

Greetings from Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field for the U.S. national team's friendly against Turkey. More than 50,000 tickets have been sold, making it the second-biggest crowd for a World Cup "send-off" match ever. 2006: 24,636 at East Hartford, 1-0 win over Latvia 2002: 36,778 at Foxborough, 2-0 loss to the...

In its first match after the World Cup, the U.S. national team will play Brazil on Aug. 10 at the new Meadowlands stadium in northern New Jersey. The friendly falls on an international fixture date, meaning the sides will be able to recall top players. A rematch of the World...

Some notes from D.C. United training today at the RFK Stadium auxiliary field ahead of Saturday night's match against visiting Chivas USA: * Midfielder Brandon Barklage tore the ACL in his left knee and also had a partial tear to the meniscus, the team said. Barklage likely will undergo surgery...

Starting next week, while colleague Liz Clarke and I are getting settled in Johannesburg, The Post will begin introducing an array of special World Cup pages, features and platforms on our Web site, including our newest reader-driven project. Post staffers Tim Ball and Matt Brooks will attend the tournament as...

*The Post's build-up to the World Cup continues with a front-page dispatch from Cameroon. In the coming weeks, our foreign service will file additional stories from countries sending a team to the Cup. *FIFA computer failure halts ticket sales in South Africa. *France is named host of the 2016 European...

Four months after the Los Angeles Sol folded, Women's Professional Soccer has lost St. Louis Athletica. The second-year league announced Thursday that Athletica is shutting down six games into the season because of a "funding crisis." The league covered the past two team payrolls. St. Louis had been scheduled to...

*In a setback to Ghana's World Cup aspirations, midfielder Michael Essien has fallen short in his comeback from a knee injury and will miss the tournament. *The Netherlands makes final roster decisions. *In the final FIFA rankings before the Cup, the top eight teams remain unchanged and the USA stays...

Photo via U.S. Soccer Federation After a Nike-hosted reception at the Newseum on Wednesday night and a stay at the historic Mayflower Hotel, the U.S. World Cup squad met with President Obama, Vice President Biden and former president Bill Clinton at the White House on Thursday morning. The group...

Salutations from Estadio RFK, where I've settled into the press box on this exceptionally warm day. I drove through a re-paved Lot 8 to get here and it's looking good and most importantly, no damage was done to my car on the drive in. The lot was filling up already...

U.S. World Cup Coach Bob Bradley , commenting on ..... Brian Ching, who did not make the cut: "It was extremely hard with the respect that we all have for Brian. As a person, for the way he plays on the field, his commitment to the team--it's always hard whenever...

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley made final cuts ahead of the World Cup in South Africa and named 23 players to the roster, including three with ties to the Washington area: defenders Oguchi Onyewu and Clarence Goodson and midfielder Maurice Edu.

*From Post colleague Liz Clarke, who will join me in South Africa starting next week, a look at Oguchi Onyewu's first match in seven months. *From Paul Tenorio, who will keep an eye on D.C. United while I am away, a preview of Wednesday night's friendly between the MLS club...

What we liked about Tuesday's friendly: *DaMarcus Beasley and Stuart Holden on the flanks. Beas is back. Putting to rest lingering questions about his effectiveness after a reduced role with Glasgow Rangers this year, DMB was quick and confident in his 45 minutes and surely secured a World Cup roster...

Greetings from Rentschler Field on an unseasonably hot day just outside Connecticut's capital city. It's 85 degrees at 5:40 p.m. (tomorrow's high is 95) -- quite a contrast from the 63 and possible rain that will welcome the traveling party in Johannesburg on Monday. Before we turn our attention to...

*Bob Bradley will introduce his 23-man World Cup squad on ESPN's "SportsCenter" on Wednesday around 1 p.m. ET, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced. *More than 43,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's send-off friendly against Turkey at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. *Adding to Germany's injury woes, midfielder Christian Traesch...

Kickoff for the USA-Czech Republic friendly in East Hartford, Conn., is not until 8 p.m., which means we will not receive the official game-day roster until probably 7 p.m. at the earliest. Bob Bradley will choose as many as 23 players. With six substitutes permitted, a maximum of 17 players...

No need for Lionel Messi, who sat this one out. Maxi Rodriguez had the first two goals, Angel Di Maria added a magnificent strike, Carlos Tevez finished from close range and Sergio Aguero weaved his way to the final goal in a 5-0 victory over Canada in Buenos Aires. Goalkeeper...

With a 1-8 record and three points, four goals scored, 18 conceded, seven scoreless efforts, 33 shots on goal, a 1-4 mark at RFK Stadium and the home attendance average dipping to 14,953 after a strong start, D.C. United is on a historically poor pace. The club's all-time low points:...

*After wrapping up training camp at Princeton on Sunday, Bob Bradley brought all 30 players to Hartford, Conn., for Tuesday's friendly against the Czech Republic at Rentschler Field (8 p.m. ET, ESPN, Galavision). With final cuts tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the game-day roster -- tentatively set for 23 players --...

We'll kick things off today with a simple poll question: Are you going to the World Cup? If so, lucky you. And if so, check out the Travel section's story on Johannesburg and a look at the best places to stay and eat. poll by twiigs.com HT to Soccer Insider...